After Luke Chambers headed Town into an 89th-minute lead, Sky Sports cameras clearly showed McCarthy – who, not for the first time, had faced negative chants from Town supporters – racing out of his technical area, manically pumping his fist and appearing to shout his dismissive profanity in the direction of the away end.

When a journalist opened the post-match press conference by saying, ‘I don’t know where to start with that’, McCarthy replied: “Well done, that would be a start, because I thought we played well.

“It was a really good performance and we just let our guard down in the 95th minute – wherever they (added minutes) came from.

“We might have blocked the ball in the box, we might have won the first header, we might have followed him out instead of (Keeper) Bart (Bialkowski) following him – I think that was a bit of confusion. That’s how goals come about. I’m sure they’ll look at our goal and think they should have marked Chambo closer.

He continued: “I thought it was a really good performance first half as an attacking threat. And I thought in the second half, when it got really tough, we were blocking, tackling, working hard and Bart made a couple of really good saves. I knew that would be the case. I was delighted with my team’s performance today.”

Then came the questioning about his goal celebration.

When asked if he had used a four-letter word, he said: “Oh, so you are putting words in my mouth are you? No, it was just me celebrating the game, mate. It was a reaction to the game. I wanted to win the game and we didn’t.”

And in response to the negative reaction when he introduced Jordan Spence for Dominic Iorfa, with attacking options Bersant Celina and Mustapha Carayol left on the bench, he added: “It’s funny isn’t it?

“I’m answering questions about this when if we’d have come off and won, instead of conceding that equaliser, it would have been so different wouldn’t it? That’s sad that you’re having to ask me those questions.

“I’m not bothered and I do my job as I see fit. And I think I do it particularly well actually.”